Caen and Mont Saint Michel

My French is getting so much better. I know that it’s full of errors but the flow with which I talk is substantially better than when I arrived. Everyone I ask tells me that my French has improved a lot. I’m to the point that I understand what people say to me almost all the time. School is still a struggle and I don’t get much out of my classes, but I can understand at least some of what the teachers are teaching us. Although I still think it’s amazing how few words I understand when I’m copying my neighbors notes. That’s been all I’ve done in my classes, in general the homework is too hard or complex for me.

On Monday, I wrote my first oral for Spanish. It’s a little surreal taking a Spanish class in French in France. It’s weird getting an assignment with translations into French and not English. The tests for instance are sentences in French, which you then have to translate into Spanish. My first test was rough and I literally just put down the pronouns but I took my second test last week and one of my sentences was entirely correct. My Spanish teacher also told my English teacher, who is also in charge of the exchange students, that if I continue like this I’ll speak Spanish by the end of the year. I’m glad that I decided to stay in Spanish, it’ll set me up really well in the US and I do really want to learn the language.

I’ve been talking pretty often with Manon, who went to Australia, and Lou, my second host sister. They’re very cool and it’s been nice to talk to them about their experiences. I’ve also been hanging out with some other exchange students pretty often. One girl named Vilma and another named Amy, from Sweden and Mexico respectively. I feel a little bad for Vilma because she lives at the school and only gets to leave for an hour everyday.

On Tuesday, in my science class I dissected a cow eyeball. It was so awesome. The only problem was that my partner wanted to do it as well and I really like dissecting. Phones are pretty strictly forbidden here but I managed to take a couple of pictures. I may have gotten eyeball on my phone but it was so worth it. It’s things like this that make me think I could do something with medicine for a living.

Some days are harder than other. Some days I feel perfectly content and some days I just feel like crying from frustration. For example, on Wednesday I got so frustrated in a pharmacy because I needed to buy lotion and when I told my host family and the pharmacist they didn’t understand. It turns out that the French word, “Lotion,” translates to “body oil” in English, and the English word, “Lotion,” translates to “Crème.” This was the last straw in a day full of frustrating things like that and I almost lost it in the middle of the pharmacy. It’s so frustrating have thoughts in English that you can’t convey because you don’t know the words in French.

Although, Wednesday also ended on a good note, I took a Jazz class where I took my Ballet class. It was actually pretty fun. I’ve never really done Jazz but it wasn’t bad at all. I think the Swedish girl is going to start the class as well. I think that if I take the Jazz class I will also take the Monday ballet class even though it’s not great; something is better than nothing.

On Thursday, I went to a Rotary club meeting with all the kids from Vendée, my department in France. There are six other kids. We all live around the region but we’re pretty close to each other. It was a really fun night and I was glad that I got to hang out with all the other kids. It was a meeting of all the clubs in Vendée so there were a lot of people there. They had a sort of strange fashion to raise money, but we got to walk at the end of it. It was a great night and I hope that the Vendée kids can get together often. Friday, school was little hard. I was pretty tired because I got back from the meeting so late. I was pretty tired in all my classes.

On Friday, toward the middle of the day a woman came and got a girl from my class and told her to take all her stuff. The woman came back later to tell us that the girl’s father had died. It was shocking to hear and one of my friends started to cry. The funeral is on Wednesday and the school is arranging for a bus to take the entire class. This is something that probably wouldn’t happen in the US but I feel is going to be very important to the girl.

Last weekend I went to Caen in Normandy and Le Mont Saint Michel in Brittany. Friday night, I slept at the chairman’s house because we had to get up at 4:00 AM to leave. For dinner we ate basically all of my least favorite foods. I forced my way through it and ate everything. I’ve come a long way from the days when my family made fun of me for being a picky eater.

On Saturday, Felippe, the other kid in La Roche sur Yon, and I got up very early and left to meet the other kids Angers where we took a bus to Caen. On the way we picked up Öykü, the girl living in Les Sables d’Olonne. The bus ride was long but we eventually made it to Caen.

The first thing we did was go to a World War II Museum. After you walked through the Museum you ended up in an American cemetery. The museum and cemetery was on a bluff above the beach, which soldiers stormed during World War II. It was a sad place but there was a path down to the beach and we were with a girl who had never been to the ocean and we got to see her experience it for the first time so it was a happy occasion as well.

That night at dinner another girl, who shares my birthday, and I got sung to and the Rotarians gave us agendas and Mont Saint Michel bookmarks. I’m glad I wasn’t alone on my birthday. It might have been a little depressing, I’m glad I got to spend it with other kids who are experiencing the same thing as me as well. I do wish that I had been able to talk to my parents though.

On Sunday, we got up at 8:00 AM and left for Le Mont Saint Michel. We arrived there at about 11:30 and hiked to the top of the mountain. It was incredibly beautiful. Although it was a little strange how commercialized the whole place was. It was definitely a tourist attraction and the whole place was covered with little souvenir shops. When we got to the top Mass was just beginning and it was amazing to see and experience that event in such a magnificent place.

I slept most of the way back and got home at probably 8:00. We ate dinner together and I ate so much; one of my favorite meals here is called Moussaka, it’s Greek and Turkish. That’s what we ate for dinner and after my family surprised me with a cake. It was very nice and this weekend we are going to go go carting for my birthday. I’m very excited.

I’ve had a few very strange French moments. I’ve noticed that sometimes my French slips into my English. Also French grammar sometimes comes into my English as well. The weirdest moment I’ve had so far was this weekend. I read an email from my mom and started to think about the reply in French before I even realized it. It’s going to be so weird to think entirely in French but I’m so excited.